A viral video of Hamas members parading a naked body in the back of a pickup truck following yesterday’s violent incursion into Israeli territory has been identified as 30-year-old German tattoo artist Shani Louk.
She was reportedly attending a music festival when Hamas militia members landed nearby with the help of motor-powered hang gliders and began opening fire. It is unclear if she was killed or unconscious, but her body is displayed in the video in a highly unusual manner, suggesting the woman is dead. Hamas members displayed Louk in the back of a pickup truck as Palestinians cheered and spat on her corpse.
Shortly after the video went viral, Shani’s mother, Ricarda, issued a plea for help regarding what happened to her daughter. She holds Shani’s photo in her hand, saying: “This morning my daughter, Shani Nicole Louk, a German citizen, was kidnapped with a group of tourists in southern Israel by Palestinian Hamas.
“We were sent a video in which I could clearly see our daughter unconscious in the car with the Palestinians and them driving around the Gaza Strip.
“I ask you to send us any help or any news. Thank you very much.”
Louk’s kidnapping comes after reports that Hamas gunmen opened fire on the festival goers at a desert rave near Kibbutz Re’im, located close to the Gaza Strip.
Gili Yoskovich told the BBC she hid as gunmen opened fire around her, saying, “They were going tree by tree and shooting. Everywhere. From two sides. I saw people were dying all around. I was very quiet. I didn’t cry, I didn’t do anything.”
Louk’s family has since interviewed with Spiegel, who said they have been informed that her credit card was used in Gaza.
According to information from German state media SWR, the mother has family ties to Ravensburg in Baden-Württemberg.
Hundreds of Israelis have reportedly been killed, hundreds kidnapped, and thousands wounded following the Hamas incursion, which also saw a number of Israeli soldiers and commanders killed or taken hostage. Israel has already responded by leveling entire apartment blocks and targeting military installations. It is unclear how many Palestinian civilians and Hamas members have been killed in the retaliatory strikes.
Israel has vowed to take revenge for the attack, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning that Hamas would be destroyed after such an attack, described by Israeli officials as Israel’s “Pearl Harbor.”
“Our first objective is to clear out the hostile forces that infiltrated our territory and restore the security and quiet to the (Israeli) communities that have been attacked,” Netanyahu said while addressing a Security Cabinet meeting.
